• IRELAND.
So long since as the 16th of April we put forth a warning that a serious danger hung over the National System of Education in Ireland. In- trigues having for their object the subjection of the course of instruction in the schools to the supreme control of the Ultramontane priesthood were then on foot ; and the friends of liberal education, as we thought, had but too much reason to fear that the weakness and little faith in principle on the part of the paid Commissioner, helped gy the irresolute vacillation of the Irish Government, would render those intrigues successful. In that event, it was known in Dublin that the withdrawal from the Board of Archbishop Whately, and probably of ex-Chancellor Blackburne and Mr. Baron Greene, would be involved. With deep regret we learn, by special whines from Dublin, confirming the least favourable news- paper reports, that the occurrences of the past week have but too fully proved the accuracy of our information in April.
"On Friday last,' our Dublin correspondent writes on the 21st, "a reso- lution was adopted by the Commissioners ordering the removal from the list of school-books of the 'Lessons on the Evidences of Christianity,' published by themselves for many years, and sanctioned by the entire Board, while it included the late Archbishop Murray, almost from the commencement of the institution. This little work, originally drawn up by the Archbishop of Dublin, had been submitted to a careful revision, under the supervision of the Roman Catholic and Protestant Commissioners, in order to purge from it every argument or expression that could give offence or that touched upon the peculiar doctrines of any Christian church. Its purpose was to expaund and sustain the common principles of Christianity ; or, in the words of the introductory lesson, to suggest such reasons to those who be- lieve in Jesus Christ as may serve to protect them from the artifices of infi- dels, and enable them to strengthen the faith of others, or to restore those who may have fallen away from Christian profession.' It has nevertheless been for some time included in the Index Expurgat,orius of the Vatican, and was formally condemned by the Synod of the Romish Church held in Dublin three or four weeks since under the guidance of Archbishop Cullen. On Fri- day, the 'Lessons on the Evidences of Christianity' was expunged from the list of National school-books, and regularly transferred by the Commissioners of National Education to the Index Expurgatorius of their Congregation. This act was, we believe, proposed, at all events it was warmly supported, by the paid Commissioner. It was opposed by Mr. Blackburn° in person, and by Baron Greene in a written protest. The Archbishop of Dublin, being en- gaged on his visitation circuit, was not present. A few hours after the sepa- ration of the Board, publication was made in the Roman Catholic chapels of Dublin of the decision of Archbishop Cullen in condemnation of the same book.
"A word or two will explain the meaning and necessary operation of this step toward the bathos of clerical control over education. which is now aimed at by the Papacy simultaneously in almost every country on the globe. The condemned 'Lessons,' although 'published by direction of the Commis.. ionersof National Education at their office,' and at first approved of by all of them, were never forced upon any children whose parents objected to their use. They were simply recommended by Archbishops Wtely and Murray and their colleagues, as being fit for the instruction of all professing Christians and opposed to the peediar tenets of none. They have now been branded as unfit to be recommended for the use of the youth of any sect of Christianity. The moral of the tale is pointed by a circumstance which has been synchrO- /loud}, reported in the Irish journals. The Guardians of the Armagh Poor- law Union have found it necessary to protest against the conduct of the Ro- man Catholic chaplain in denouncing the 'Third Book of Lessons' pub- lished by the Commissioners; a compilation purely secular in its character, but including, among lessons on geography and natural history, a sketch of the history of the Jewish patriarchs. In due course these Lessons also will
i be placed on the Index; n all probability they have already been condemned in the Synod. There is no reason why the same principle should not be applied to lessons in civil history, in political economy, or in astronomy ; and thus, by the Socratic method and with the help of her Majesty's Commis- sioners, the absolute and full control of the secular education of the people which has been striven for in France Switzerland, Belgium, Sardinia, would speedily become a great fact in Inlaid." We have said that this event would probably involve the retirement from the Board of Education of Archbishop Whately and Messrs. Black- burne and Greene: but we trust that those eminent men may not hastily determine upon such a step. Their retirement should, at least, be pre- ceded by a full and frank statement of the whole case, and a solemn ap- peal for judgment on its merits, to the Government, the Legislature, and the public opinion of the country.
In a "Pastoral Address of the Bishops of the Province of Dublin as- sembled in Synod to the Catholic Clergy and Laity of the Province," the Romish prelates touch upon this subject : the following passage shows their animus— "All books to be used in the public schools should be free from every con- tagion of error, and those which are destined for religious instruction should be approved of by your legitimate pastors. There are two little works which have been sometimes, though rarely, used by Catholic children, which we now wish to see banished from their hands. The first is a little treatise on the Evidences of Christianity,' composed by a Protestant dignitary, who has lately distinguished himself by his unprovoked attack on our conventual in- stitutions, under the hypocritical pretence of protecting personal liberty. We need scarcely state that this treatise, coming from the pen of such an author, is Protestant in its principles and tendencies, and that it is not fit for the in- struction of Catholic children in the important question of the truth of their religion."
The emigration movement has somewhat diminished of late in parts of Ireland, though the people of the Western counties are still quitting their country as numerously as ever. The approach of harvest probably has checked the exodus.
Mr. John Robinson has been shot dead, at night, on the road-side close to his own house, in the barony of Bantry, Wexford county. Government has offered a reward of 100/. for the conviction of the assassin.
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